Sensex rises in opening trade

Mumbai (Agencies): The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex expanded by over 95 points in opening trade on Monday after witnessing a sharp fall in the previous session on the back of selective buying by funds and retail investors, ignoring a weak trend on other Asian bourses.

The Sensex, which had lost 295.30 points in the previous session on Friday, rose by 95.23 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 18,306.75 on Monday, with capital goods, IT and oil and gas stocks leading the recuperation.

Likewise, the broad-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index moved up by 24.60 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 5,483.55 points.

Marketmen said the surfacing of buying at select counters and covering-up of pending short positions by speculators ahead of monthly expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday mainly influenced the trading sentiment.

However, they claimed the ongoing probe into the 2G spectrum scam and a weak trend on other Asian bourses capped the gains.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.56 per cent, even as Japan's Nikkei shed 0.20 per cent in early trade on Monday.